Tamara Zahaykevich

Thankfully, the next few days aren’t as stressfully-packed with events as Frieze Week was. But we’ve picked out a handful of options if you’re still hankering to see some art. Tuesday night, Matt Bolinger’s solo show opens at Zurcher Gallery, featuring cinematic paintings of Middle-American life. Wednesday, rising art-star Kour Pour opens a new exhibition at Feuer/Mesler that looks to be a new direction for the painter. Thursday is a big night for fans of drawing: David Nolan Gallery has a Jorinde Voigt show and The Drawing Center is offering a Josef Albers-inspired workshop.

The weekend is when things get weirder. Christopher K. Ho’s solo exhibition at Present Company looks at aging, “art dads”, religion, and more Friday night. At the same time, Invisible Exports is opening Frida Smoked, a group show about women artists and their cigarettes. Saturday, Rhizome’s annual Seven on Seven conference will present collaborations between tech insiders and artists and Underdonk will open an ambitious group show of tiny sculptures from dozens of artists. Borna Sammak’s solo show also opens at American Medium that night. But Sunday sounds like it will be the most fun—Hyperalleric has organized a walking tour of artist’s graves in Green-Wood cemetery, so go enjoy the partially-sunny outdoors after a rainy weekend.

What is it going to take to get city politicians to start doing the right thing? It costs a small fortune to live in this city and when bills are introduced that would help give a leg up to artists, there isn’t enough support to get them off the ground.

Case and point: The Small Business Jobs Survival Act. This is a bill that will help commercial tenants facing displacement from rising rents—including artists’ studios and small businesses—and it currently has only 23 of the 26 votes it needs to pass.

The bill would require commercial landlords to offer ten-year leases to all existing tenants who’ve paid their rent on time. If the two sides can’t agree on terms, they go to arbitration. Currently a landlord doesn’t have to renew a tenant’s lease, can kick the tenant out whenever it suits them, raise their rent exorbitantly, and the tenant has no means of contesting the decision.

Good morning and welcome to your first art fair-free day of the week! To celebrate we wrote up a link list.

Trompe l’oeil food painting. This cucumber is really a banana! [This is Colossal]

The BBC has created a text-based video game based on the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is to celebrate the novel’s 40th anniversary. [BBC]

The New York Times picks up the Industry City beat; they interview several artists, including Tamara Zahaykevich of the Artist Studio Affordability Project, about the neverending search for reasonably priced studio space. Apparently, many artists who were at Industry City can’t find a good new studio. [The New York Times]

A United States weapons firm is in trouble with Italy’s Minister of Culture. ArmaLite, Inc. created a newspaper advertisement showing Michelangelo’s David holding a AR-50A1 rifle. Government officials claim this is illegal and offensive. (The Italian government holds copyright over David’s image.) [The Mirror]

New artist trend: Getting kicked off of Instagram, then getting back on again a day later. New York Magazine talks to artist Richard Prince about what that was like; he was kicked off for posting a picture of his Brooke Shields. [Vulture]

Maryam Banikarim talks to six Silicon Alley (1.0) founders now. They reflect on the what the web was like then and now. “Suits” are described as having been interested in “risk assessment”. [Fast Company]

Hirst has announced that he intends to write an autobiography, but admits he no longer remembers his twenties due to a life of excess. We’re surprised (and doubtful) that he’s only lost a decade. [The Guardian]

A screed on what makes good photojournalism: pictures that don’t just confirm or corroborate some existing piece of knowledge, but actually advance our understanding. The examples of “good” news photos and paintings are limited to leaders playing with kids, but it’s a good piece regardless. [The Philosophers’ Mail]

Who’s looking forward to sweating profusely this week at a bunch of crowded openings? I know I am! The question is, at which openings shall we sweat? I polled the AFC staff to come up with a few targets for the month. These are the results.